In this piece, we’ll help you troubleshoot several Apple Watch issues if your smartwatch seems to experience problems and doesn’t work as intended.
The Apple Watch is an incredibly advanced timepiece, but it’s much more than that. It’s also a very useful iPhone accessory that you can use right from your wrist to carry out tasks you’d normally do on your iPhone.
With that being said, when the Apple Watch seems to experience problems turning back on, and all you see is a black screen, things can be quite dismal. Fortunately, there are ways to figure out what’s going on and troubleshoot the issue.
Experiencing Apple Watch issues you can’t explain?
All Apple Watch models, be it the expensive Apple Watch Ultra, the regular Series 10, or the cheaper Watch SE, are powered by the same watchOS software. This means they can be subject to common bugs and malfunctions and can require troubleshooting to get them working again.
If you’re experiencing issues with your Apple Watch, such as one of the following potential issues, then you’ve come to the right place:
- My Apple Watch screen is completely black
- My Apple Watch screen is black but shows the time in green
- My Apple Watch screen is black but shows the time in green with a red thunderbolt icon
- My Apple Watch restarts to a black screen, and then I hear voices
- My Apple Watch isn’t responding to touches or button presses
- My Apple Watch tries to turn on but can’t boot up
Fortunately, for most of the issues listed above, there is an easy way to get your Apple Watch up and running just how you’d expect it to work again.
My Apple Watch Screen is completely black
If your Apple Watch’s display is completely black and doesn’t seem to be responding to your touch, then your Apple Watch could be powered off or may not have enough power left in its battery to turn the display back on from sitting off the charger for too long.
The first thing you should do to try and fix this issue is to press and hold the side button on your watch to see if the Apple Watch turns back on. If it doesn’t, you can try a hard restart by pressing both the side button and the Digital Crown for 10 seconds.
If this still doesn’t work, you may have a completely drained battery and may need to try charging the device some and then repeat the above steps.
I have a black screen, but the time appears in green in digital format
If your screen is black and shows the time in green and in digital format, but you’re unable to get to the Home Screen or view other goodies, then your Apple Watch is in Power Reserve Mode.
The Apple Watch, as small as it is, doesn’t have a very large battery, so power reserve mode is intended to make your Apple Watch last longer while still providing you with an accurate time. Other major features of the watch are disabled for power efficiency.
To get out of Power Reserve Mode, you will need to reboot the Apple Watch after charging it sufficiently. This is done by pressing and holding the side button of your watch for up to 10 seconds until you see an Apple logo, which indicates your Apple Watch is rebooting.
Important: Even when your Apple Watch has enough battery but is switched off, you can press the Digital Crown once to see the time. The digital clock appears in white font on a black screen.
I see a black screen, the time in green, and there’s also a red lightning bolt
If you see a black screen with the time in green and in digital format and a small red lightning bolt icon, then your Apple Watch is too low on power to boot into regular mode.
While in this mode, you will be unable to access the main functions of your watch, such as getting to the Home Screen, viewing your watch face, launching apps, and more.
In this mode, your Apple Watch has essentially switched to Low Power Mode on its own because it was running too low on power and needed to conserve energy. You will have to charge your Apple Watch to get back into regular mode, or else soon, the Apple Watch will die completely and end up unresponsive until it’s charged back up.
My Apple Watch turns on just fine, but the screen is black, and it’s talking to me
If your Apple Watch turns on fine but shows a black screen after the reboot and is talking to you, then you probably have VoiceOver turned on.
To fix this, you can use your iPhone to turn VoiceOver off from the Apple Watch app. Head to the Watch app > Accessibility > VoiceOver and turn it off.
Alternatively, you can press and hold the Digital Crown on your Apple Watch to launch Siri and ask Siri to disable VoiceOver for you.
My Apple Watch isn’t responding to taps or button presses
If your screen is either completely black or seems to be displaying content, but your Apple Watch isn’t responding to finger taps or momentary button presses, then a force restart should fix the problem.
Don’t bother pressing and holding the power button to reveal the power-down menu because if your display isn’t responding to touch, then the slider might not work.
Skip right to the force restart process, which is to press and hold the side button and the Digital Crown simultaneously for about 10 seconds or until you see an Apple logo appear.
If the touch screen remains unresponsive or the buttons do nothing, you may need to visit an Apple Store for support because something in the Apple Watch’s hardware may have failed to keep your input from being registered.
I keep trying to turn on my Apple Watch, and it just hangs on the boot logo
If your Apple Watch is trying to boot up but seems to hang and isn’t able to turn back on, then you can go ahead and try a hard restart by pressing and holding both the side button and Digital Crown simultaneously for 10 seconds or until you see an Apple logo on the screen.
If it fails to boot up after the hard restart, then there may be corruption in the operating system’s boot files, and the watch will be unable to power on. Apple may entitle you to a free replacement or repair if the watch is under warranty, so you are strongly advised to contact Apple Support in this particular scenario.
About fixing Apple Watch problems
Although the Apple Watch is a simple device with fewer functions than the iPhone, it still is an incredibly complex device for its size.
Unfortunately, its size also means you have no ports, so when it comes to troubleshooting software issues, it’s not like you can just plug it into your Mac and restore the firmware like you can with an iPhone. Everything has gone wireless, and wireless restores and updates are impossible unless you can actually access the software in the first place.
There might be times when you can fix some problems with the Apple Watch yourself, often with just a hard restart, a re-charge, a simple settings change, or pairing it again after erasing it. Additionally, there are those rare times when you might just have to bite the bullet and call Apple for help.
Have you ever had any of the listed issues with your Apple Watch? If so, how did you fix it? Share in the comments!
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